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The Law
The Law & Harry McGraw is a spin-off show from the long running mystery series, Murder, She Wrote. The show featured the character of Harry McGraw, played by Jerry Orbach, who had appeared in a number of Murder, She Wrote episodes prior to this series and would appear again on Murder, She Wrote after the cancellation of The Law & Harry McGraw History Premise The Character of Harry McGraw was created by Peter S. Fischer, he was first seen in "Tough Guys Don't Die" an episode from the first season of Murder, She Wrote. Harry was a down on his luck Private Investigator. He struck a friendship with Mystery Novelist Jessica Fletcher while investigating the murder of his partner. The Character appeared twice more in an episode in the second season and again in the third season. Harry was so popular that CBS commissioned a spin-off series featuring this character. The series was to follow the numerous cases that Harry would investigate. Peter S Fischer created the series and took on a role of Executive Producer. Cancellation The series premiered on the CBS network on September 27, 1987 with a Two-Hour Pilot Movie. However, despite a small fan following the shows ratings were not what CBS were expecting, and as such cancelled the series in early 1988. The Character of Harry McGraw would however go on to re-appear on Murder, She Wrote three more times. Summary The Character of Harry McGraw had been fairly well developed in three episodes of Murder, She wrote prior to the start of this series. The spirit of his character was continued in this series, he was usually strapped for cash and driving a wrecked car. He often used his Niece EJ as his receptionist and research assisstant. In the series Harry's primary client was Ellie Maginnis, who was a criminal lawyer who often needed harry services to assist her cases. Her law office was just across the hall from Harrys. The two first met in the two hour pilot movie "Dead Men Don't Make Phone Calls", in which Ellie hired Harry to look into a Murder case in which Ellie was defending the accused. Ellie would however give up her private practice and join the District Attorneys office under Tyler Chase, she would still however require Harry's services to tie up some loose ends in her cases. Starring Regular Cast *Jerry Orbach as Harry McGraw *Barbara Babcock as Ellie Maginnis *Shea Farrell as Steve Lacey *Juliana Donald as E.J. Brunson *Peter Haskell as Deputy DA Tyler Chase *Marty Davis as Cookie *Earl Boen as Howard Notable Guest Stars *Ron Masak as Lieutenant Paul Episodes DVD Release The complete series boxset of "The Law & Harry McGraw" is expected to be released sometime in the next two years, shorty after the release of the Murder, She Wrote: TV Movies. Background Information *'The Law & Harry McGraw' was created and produced by "Murder, She Wrote" co-creator Peter S. Fischer. *The character of Harry McGraw would go on to appear in a further 3 episode of Murder, She Wrote following the shows cancellation. See Also *The Law & Harry McGraw Crew External Links Category:TV Shows Category:The Law & Harry McGraw Seasons